Broadcaster Ji Seok-jin, who lost his mother on the 24th. Photo Sports Kyunghyang DB

TV personality Ji Seok-jin shed tears at year’s end over the sad news of his mother’s passing.

According to the broadcasting industry on the 25th, Ji Seok-jin’s mother, Kim I-ja, passed away on the morning of the 24th. The deceased’s wake has been prepared in Room 2 of the funeral hall at Seoul Asan Medical Center in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

At the wake, Ji Seok-jin was named among the chief mourners alongside his siblings, his wife, and his son. The funeral procession will be solemnly held on the morning of the 26th, and the burial site is Eden Paradise in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.

He is keeping vigil at the wake with the bereaved family, receiving mourners. Even on the 25th, the day after the sad news was reported, colleagues from the entertainment industry continued to pay their respects. Those who came to the wake included Kim Jong-min of Koyote; broadcaster Jun Hyun-moo; singer and actor Lee Seung-gi; comedians Jung Jun-ha and Ryu Dam; Yoon Bo-mi of the girl group Apink; the couple Jeiseun and Hong Hyun-hee; and producer Kim Tae-ho.

The bereavement is all the more heartbreaking as it comes not long after he was honored with the ‘Grand Prize’ at a recent web variety awards ceremony. At the ‘3rd Pinggigo Awards’ held on Yoo Jae-suk’s channel ‘Pinggigo’, he received the first Grand Prize of his 30-year broadcasting career.

At the time, he said, “I felt that the saying that if you endure and keep enduring, good days will come is truly sincere.”

Ji Seok-jin is currently appearing on SBS ‘Running Man’ and tvN ‘Sixth Sense: City Tour 2’.